Sunday, August 29, 2010

Into The Alien Pit

I was nine.

Kevin O'Neill was kicking off Nemesis The Warlock and Massimo Belardinelli was doing Meltdown Man. What else can I say? I was exposed to the first flowering of 2000AD and I was ruined for any other line of work. Later on I would sit and lose myself in my cousin's Prog collection during long summer days in the wilds of Waterford, discovering Mick McMahon, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Ian Gibson, Carlos Ezquerra and everyone else who shaped an entire generation. By the time I picked them up, US comics just felt tame for a long time.

Too true. Never had chills from a comic like I got from Kevin O'Neill on Nemesis. I remember at the time I divided 2000AD artists into "rough" - McMahon, Ezquerra - and "neat" - Bolland, Gibbons - and my little scheme was utterly useless when it came to O'Neill. He transcended it.

Belardinelli on Meltdown Man is an underrated wee gem. I treasure the two issues of 2000AD Xtreme Edition it was reprinted in. Nonsense, but beautifully drawn nonsense, and fun like an old movie serial.